The following story reveals how to get more out of exercise — and that life is often far from fair. Let the reader beware that getting fully absorbed in it could produce an unhealthy — albeit temporary — increase in blood pressure.

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Imagine how the frustration flowed after he heard that fifth and final “no.” Envision devoting five years after college graduation to becoming a professional bicyclist, winning a number of important races in that fifth year that should finally make that happen, yet hearing “no,” “no,” “no,” “no,” and “no” from five pro teams simply because you are 27 and not 26 years old.

The rules governing professional cycling make it much more enticing for teams to hire young riders and, according to the bylaws, 26 is the last year considered “young.” The sobering reality facing this fellow was that he needed to do even better the following year so that his “advanced” age would not matter.

So he hired a pricey personal coach to create his workouts, and it was seemingly worth every penny. Just before the new season, the guy was riding faster and farther with less effort.

But the vagaries of cycling, even more so than your fitness level, often determine your placement in races. This guy who trained harder and longer than the year before actually got worse results.

He also got an ultimatum from the computer firm he worked for part-time. They needed to downsize, but wanted to keep him on board. To stay on, however, he had to work full-time — and even overtime — when needed.

All of which meant his cycling workouts could no longer dictate the hours of his work day.

So the guy gave up his dream of becoming a professional cyclist. But his desire to race a bicycle did not dissipate.

He was a proud fellow, however, who would never be satisfied with finishing in the middle of the pack. Yet how could he expect anything more riding so much less than he had in the past?

Economize. Intensify. Make the hard training harder and the easy training easier.

He reworked his former coach’s workouts with that in mind and was pleasantly surprised. While he didn’t achieve the magical results he had two seasons before, his race results were just as good as the year he worked with the coach.

Despite riding only about half as much.

In short, this cyclist did something out of desperation that I have suggested you consider a number of times. I tell his story because the concept really does work just as well for the 30-year-old mom who works out by pushing her twins in the stroller as it does for 25-year-old muscular monster intent upon squatting 500 pound.

The suggestion: Make the hard workouts harder and the easy workouts easier.

It’s a simple sentence, a simple thought, yet as spot-on as any advice I have ever offered — in part because of how body quickly your acclimates to exercise.

Let’s say in a moment of foolhardy inspiration you grab your daughter’s jump rope and miraculously manage to jump like a professional boxer for the 45 minutes that you usually devote to a fairly fast walk. Without a doubt, you would burn double, maybe even triple, the calories.

Because of that, you decide to make jumping rope your new mode of exercise — even though it’s far more difficult. In fact, for a month you stay super motivated and make sure you feel as exhausted after every single session as you did after the first.

Even so, you would not be burning nearly as many calories at the end of the month as you did during that first session because your muscles are now acclimated to the jump-rope motion and have learned to economize. As a result, you realize you actually need to work harder to burn as many calories as before, but you can’t imagine exerting any more effort in a jump-rope session.

So don’t.

Take a few days to do some other form of exercise and make it easier than when you used to walk for workouts way back when. After a few recovery sessions like that, get back to going “harder” but make the harder come in part from a new mode of exercise, like the elliptical trainer.

The concept is called cross-training, and it might be the easiest way to accrue the benefits of what should be one of your workout mantras: Make the hard harder and the easy easier.

If you are exercising to improve your health and fitness rather than your performance in a specific sport, it makes sense to switch exercise types every six weeks or so. If you are trying to improve in a specific sport, then it’s essential to change the specific types of workouts you’re doing with the same frequency.

If you don’t, you will not only burn fewer calories, but you will also stagnate physically, as well as mentally and probably become a victim of the dreaded exercise burnout.